Update September 2018:
AIDA hosted a community meeting on 4 August to discuss the implications of re-opening Coalmine Road to through traffic. About 100 people attended, many of them not AIDA members, which was pleasing to see.
As part of the rehabilitation works at its former coal mine near Anglesea, Alcoa is required to realign and enable the reopening of Coalmine Road. The road has been closed for at least a decade.
The works raise a question for the Surf Coast Shire: should Coalmine Road remain blocked off, should it be available for emergency vehicles only, or should it be reopened for general trafficc?
The reopening of Coalmine Road would allow vehicles to travel along it to Distillery Creek Road and onto Bambra Road or Old Coach Road, effectively providing a bypass around Anglesea.
Surf Coast Shire’s CEO, Keith Baillie, and Anglesea ward councillors, Libby Coker and Margot Smith, addressed the meeting, providing important information on the issue.
Following the meeting we were told that the council would delay any consideration of the issue and any community consultation until decisions are made about the future use of Alcoa’s land, as this will be something council will need to consider.
Charlotte Allen
June 2018
As part of the rehabilitation works at its former coal mine near Anglesea, Alcoa is required to realign and enable the reopening of Coalmine Road. (The road has been closed for some years as the edge of the coal mine was too close to the road.)
The realignment works will take place shortly and raise a question for the Surf Coast Shire: Should Coalmine Road remain blocked off, should it be available for emergency vehicles only, or should it be reopened for general traffic?
The reopening of Coalmine Road would allow vehicles to travel along it to Distillery Creek Road and onto Bambra Road or Old Coach Road, effectively providing a bypass around Anglesea. This could be very popular over the summer months in particular to avoid the ongoing traffic jams at the Anglesea roundabout.
We have also been advised that the increasingly popular GPS devices take note of traffic flows and the more traffic they record the more likely they are to direct traffic along a route. This could mean the inexorable growth of traffic along Coalmine Road, Distillery Creek Road, and Bambra Road, especially if the necessary roadworks included making it a bitumen road.
The AIDA committee is very concerned about the potential for a huge increase in traffic down Bambra Road, Bimbadeen Drive and Old Coach Road should Coalmine Road be reopened and improvements made to Distillery Creek Road. We believe it is inappropriate for Anglesea’s traffic problem to be redirected into our community.
The shire has yet to consider whether or not Coalmine Road should be reopened and the AIDA committee wants to make sure the community has an opportunity to have its view heard prior to any discussion and decision by the shire.
AIDA is hosting a Community Meeting in the Aireys Inlet Hall on Saturday 4 August at 11.00 am to discuss the issue.
The Surf Coast Shire’s CEO, Keith Baillie, and Anglesea Ward Councillors, Libby Coker and Margot Smith, have agreed to come to the meeting to discuss the options and take questions and listen to your feedback.
This is an important issue for our community and the meeting will be open to AIDA members and nonmembers.
We encourage as many AIDA members as possible to attend.
Charlotte Allen